Date: Thu, 4 Jul 1996 08:25:58 -0500
From: "L-Soft list server at MIZZOU1 (1.8b)" <LISTSERV@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Subject: File: "DATABASE OUTPUT"
To: Haines Brown <BROWNH@CCSUA.CTSTATEU.EDU>

> S * IN ACTIV-L
--> Database ACTIV-L, 6641 hits.

> print 06587
>>> Item number 6587, dated 96/07/03 10:44:28 -- ALL
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 1996 10:44:28 CDT
Reply-To: NY Transfer News Collective <nyt@blythe.org>
Sender: Activists Mailing List <ACTIV-L@MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU>
From: NY Transfer News Collective <nyt@blythe.org>
Subject: STMT OF PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR LATIN AMERICAN, CARIBBEAN INTEGRATION

From: Prensa Latina <prensal@blythe.org>
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 1996 02:25:31 -0400 (EDT)

Cuba's access to worldwide information networks approved

Prensa Latina, Havana, from Granma International, 2 July 1996

ACCESS from Cuba to the international information networks was recently approved by the island's government in a decree-law issued by the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers.

The document, which establishes the regulations for assuring the proper development and utilization of these services, expresses the need for Cuban policies and a strategy in this regard and in the interests of national defense and security.

Access to these networks will be defined by Cuban interests and priority will be given to institutions considered most significant in the country's life and development.

According to the document, this policy must assure that the information transmitted in these networks is truthful, and the information received must be in accordance with Cuba's ethical principles and not harmful to the country's interests and security.

The decree designates a commission composed of the Ministries of Science, Technology and the Environment; Communications; the Interior; Justice; and the Revolutionary Armed Forces, which will deal with matters related to access to the networks. It will assure the coherent behavior of the various central state administrative agencies and guarantee that proper action is taken in the face of possible changes in technologies or other problems that might occur.

The commission will also make recommendations to the government on decisions that need to be taken in relation to informatics security, development policies and the introduction of technologies in the country's socioeconomic processes, while ensuring that all investments made are compatible with Cuba's defense systems.

Cuba's possiblities in the digital era

In the closing session of a seminar on the island's access to Internet, Vice President Carlos Lage affirmed that Cuba has real possibilities of being an active participant rather than a spectator in the new digital era.

"In this context," he said, "we have a large number of experts and highly skilled university graduates capable of successfully meeting new challenges in key sectors such as computer science, informatics and communications." He added that Cuba's full access to global information networks affords the possibility of utilizing them as an ideal mechanism for transmitting to the world an accurate and objective account of national realities under conditions of equality.